Joe:

"First off - I know I need to learn more songs, internalize them, get them to musical memory, and play them more frequently. Somehow - I get lost in the paralysis of analysis of music rather than the joy of playing it - it must be my personality, I'm more inclined to study and analyze than play. But I know I must force myself to immerse myself in playing songs."

There is nothing wrong at all with the study and analyzation of music. I do it all the time. If I am learning a new song, before I go to sleep, I read the music, song, tab or whatever over and over and that has helped me tremendously over the years. You might wind up with an 'ear worm' all night long but oh well...

When I am learning the playing aspect of the song, like others have said which is so true, start slow and learn measure by measure and then add some measures to that you have already played. In my case, it might take a couple of weeks to get it into muscle memory. I also use either a backing track or, in my case, Band in a Box so I have something to follow along with.

"After that - I always noodle in front of the TV (yeah - I watch a lot of TV), but try to learn something musical with my instrument as I watch. This is my current "noodle" exercise:"

I have been playing and learning new songs for over 40 years and my strong advice to you is to drop the TV. When you are trying to learn new songs, new theory, new chord progressions and so on, your brain is divided between watching the 'idiot tube' and your time for music learning. You are multitasking and dividing your time and your learning process, between the two.

I never, ever do that!

Drop the TV and let your brain concentrate 100% on the item at hand.

jcland

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